An Australian man, 22, with a promising future in baseball was shot in the back as he jogged through small-town Oklahoma streets, and police said Tuesday the suspected killers’ motive was that they had nothing better to do.
The suspects, ages 15, 16 and 17, were arrested shortly after the shooting of Christopher Lane.
“They witnessed a young man run by on the street. Chose him as the target,” Duncan police Chief Danny Ford said to the local KSWO. And after they were arrested, one allegedly told police the motive: “We were going to kill somebody,” an officer relayed during an interview with an Australian radio station.
Mr. Lane was attending East Central University on a baseball scholarship, CNN reported. He was out jogging last week when he was shot. Witnesses say he stumbled into the middle of the road and fell to his knees, then the ground.
Police were able to arrest the three based on nearby surveillance videos of the car they drove. Duncan is home to about 24,000 residents.
Mr. Lane’s family in Australia struggled to understand the shooting.
“He’s left his mark as we know, and you know there’s not going to be any good come out of this, because it was just so senseless,” the 22-year-old’s father, Peter Lane, said in CNN. “It’s happened. It’s wrong and we’re just trying to deal with it the best we can.”
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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